Seattle, Washington Home Once More and Gone Again

The Europe leg of the trip is done. Thirteen countries in five weeks, if I’m counting correctly.

I’m not even gonna bother trying to put into words how much fun I had. I know that outwardly it seems like I’m moving too quickly to appreciate anything and it’s a wasted opportunity and blah blah blah, but the ones who bluster thusly are missing what’s going on. And how could they know, really.

It’s all about the dancing events, folks. Meeting random strangers all across the continent. The energy of the masses getting silly in public places for no readily discernable reason. Trust me. It’s fantastic. And I’m keen to do more.

The US and Canada are next, but I’m taking the summer off first. So sign up now to get an invite come September-ish.

The closest thing I can liken it to is a rock band on tour, except without the buses and drugs and groupies…and really nothing like that at all, but how else to describe it?

Moving on.

And so I come home to find the Katamari media fun ball is still accumulating girth, if you’ll pardon the cumbersome analogy. Yahoo has done a big story on the videos and it’s on the front page of their news site.

I didn’t realize how many people read Yahoo news. Turns out it’s pretty much everyone. My inbox is swelling. I’ve heard from every kid I went to camp with and every guy who sat behind me in study hall. Yahoo warned me I’d be getting about 50 page views a second while they have the link up. So what’s that, 3000 while I wrote that sentence?

Sheesh!

And so I must observe my familial duty and take this opportunity, while the traffic is flowing through, to mention what my sister has been up to…

She’s started a company making bracelets for girls. The company, and the product, is called Glitz Clicks.

The bracelet is actually 7 separate compartments that snap together. Inside each compartment is a different kind of makeup. Except for one of the compartments, which is empty. You can put whatever you want in it.

This last touch is genius. The bonus, you see, is nothing. She’s giving you an extra nothing — FOR FREE. And you get excited because you can put whatever you want in it. That’s what’s so great about nothing, right?

Here’s my niece, Ellie, shamelessly promoting it.

That’s the same Ellie who is in all of the dancing videos. In my family, we try to get as much mileage as we can out of those among us who are still cute.

My sister put this whole thing together herself; design, packaging, manufacturing, shipping, selling to retailers. She just got a self-storage space and filled it with boxes fresh out of the crate from Hong Kong. The first batch goes on sale at the Limited Too tomorrow.

Wanna have some fun? Try getting a manufacturer in Hong Kong to build you 10,000 of something. I assure you, this is not an easy game to get into, and the odds are stacked against the one-woman shows. So alls I’m saying is, if you happen to be into tween jewelry — or you know someone who is…

I’ve been home for a day. I was literally wandering through Jerusalem last Friday. And lo!, I must get on a plane again tomorrow. I have a wedding to go to in New York. I’m the best man, which is a kick. Never thought I’d qualify for the job, and I am truly honored/stunned.

A toast. I have to give a toast. Jeepers!

I’ll be back on the 8th, and then I intend to make a concerted effort to do nothing. I’m going to do nothing as hard as I can. What’s so great about nothing, you see, is you can put whatever you want in it.